Hinge



i IQ.

W. H. ELLIOT, OF PLATTSBURG, NEW YORK.

HINGE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 21,124, dated .August 10, 1858.

To all whom t may concern.'

Plattsburg, in the county of Clinton, State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Table-Hinge; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference vbeing had to the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, the same letters indicating the same device in each figure.

The nature of my invention consists in combining with a table hinge a portion of the joint of rule joint tables.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

Figure l is an isoinetrical drawing of a portion of the bed and leaf of a rule joint table, showing the improved hinge. Fig. 2 is a section of the same through the improved hinge.

a bed; having upon it the convex or round part of the rule joint d. a leaf having on its uplper edge the concave or hollow part of a rule joint. b table hinge, c metallic cap fastened upon the hinge by rivet i.

In sinking the common table hinge into the bed of a rule joint table, it is necessary to cut away the round portion of the joint on the under side to make room for the knuckle of the hinge, until only about one sixteenth of an inch of wood is left over the hinge, and this thin shell of wood is liable to be broken by straining the hinge. A little rust, a slight swelling of the wood from being wet or carelessly raising the leaf may break it, and these accidents are more likely to occur in valuable tables than in common ones, as in the former cases they are usually made of heavy cross-grained wood. So common is this accident of breaking away a part of the rule joint over the hinge, that it is difficult to find a mahogany table that has been in use several years that has not one or more of its g joints either fractured or broken entirely Be it known that I, W. I-I. ELLIOT, of l out.

This is the weak point in valuable tables and the one in which they always fail rst. To remedy this difficulty I have constructed a hinge which has combined with it that portion of the rule joint attached to the bed of the table, which is directly over the hinge, and which, when attached to the bed, is so liable to injury. By combining this portion of the rule joint with the hinge or making it a part of the hinge all the accidents above referred to are effec` tually guarded against. This may be done as shown in the drawings by placing a inetallic cap over the joint of the common hinge or it may be done by so forming the hinge that a portion of it shall be flush and continuous with the round part of the rule joint. If a cap is used it should cover the joint of the hinge as well at the ends as on the top, and the pins which hold the hinge together should pass through the cap at the ends of the hinge joint, so that the outer surface of the cap may be held concentric to the center of the hinge oint. If the hinge be so formed without using a cap as to represent a portion of the rule joint the ends of the plate out of which the hinge is formed should be brought over in the exact form of the rule oint and then curved under to form the joint of the hinge, or it may be cast in a suitable shape. In any case that part of the hinge representing the rule oint should present to the eye an unbroken metallic surface perfectly continuous with the round portion of the rule joint. j y

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim- Combining with the table hinge a portion of the rule joint as specified.

IV. H. ELLIOT.

Witnesses:

SAMUEL B. M. BECKWITH, JAMES H. CARTER. 

